All that money for four hours?

People often question the time and dedication that the professional DJ puts into his (or her) job. "All that money to play four hours of music?"

Let me drop some knowledge! 

Over the past 3 weeks I've been on no less than 12 meetings. I've driven up to an hour each way. Each meeting takes about an hour to execute and during such time I pick up the tab. It's the least I can do for their time... after all. Some book, some don't. Some answer their phones when I call them back, some don't. Some have the courtesy to tell me "thanks but no thanks", and some don't.

Last night I went to sleep with my mind racing. "How can I better serve my brides? (Sorry grooms--it's all about the ladies and you'd do well to learn this!). What can I offer by way of service that I'm not already doing? How can I instill trust? How can I communicate that the most important day of somebody's life can be made better by me being there?"

The answer? Read more books. Speak to more brides. Ask my clients what I can do--past, present, or future. They're the ones who know what they want. It's my job to learn it, offer it, promise it, and exceed it. 

I don't sell DJ services. I don't sell speakers, mixers, songs, or lights. I sell peace of mind. Actually, I don't sell at all. I educate. I empower. I offer all of my energies and skills that I've learned over the past ten years of service. I've learned from the best of the best: Dan Hawkins out of Lutherville, Arnoldo Offerman way down in Florida, Eric Massey in Delaware. Most importantly, I've learned from myself. I learn at every event that I perform for. I learn most when I admit that I don't know everything. Fact is, I know very little. But, I know enough to know this, and to never stop learning. 

The thought isn't "when does my DJ start working for me"? It is "does he ever stop"? The answer? No.

AWESOME NEW SERVICE!

Well, in addition to offering fantastic DJ services, I'm proud to now offer Huge Movies in your back yard. We'll do all the work, you just bring the popcorn! Check it out at www.moviesinyourbackyard.com

Well, I now hate snow!

I used to love snow! We'd have off school and I'd build Igloos, go sledding, and just generally he happier than a pig in...well, you know what! Well, This year's snow has cost money! I as well as a few DJ buddies of mine have lose numerous gigs. I've been fortunate enough to have a strong summer interest, and receive reservation fees to help get my family through, but I think I speak for most of us when I say enough with the snow!

In other news, I have a school dance coming up on Friday. I always look forward to these as the kids always react positively to the music, and they love the lights!

Sorry this isn't much of a blog post, just thought I'd drop a line and keep those up to date.

Hey--if you read the blog let me know. Post a comment, hit me up on facebook--whatever! I wonder how many people read what I write. (I should probably prepare my ego for a shock!)

Some really cool things!

As I continue to grow, I constantly look for new things to add to the services that I offer. This year I will be adding two new and exciting features to my ever growing list of options. First, uplighitng. This is all the rage with those fancy wedding shows (that my wife makes me watch!) and really adds class and elegance to your venue itself. Basically what uplighting is is the ability to change the entire look of a room. I have available up to twenty lights of any color of your choosing to make a room glow your special color!

In addition to uplighting, I offer wireless speaker transmission. Let's just say that you are having a wedding in a lavish mansion, or very upscale wedding hall and your dancing will take place in one room, and the dinner will take place in another. Or perhaps you will be having your cocktail hour in a different room than the main hall. Well, in the past this meant running tons of cords from the main console to the speaker. This was both ugly and dangerous as it presented a tripping hazard. Well no more! Now I can send the audio to a speaker without the need for wires to make it both safer, and aesthetically more pleasing! This may not seem like a big deal, but its super cool for me!

So, I can transform the feel of your room with the uplighting, and extend the music further with wireless. AWESOME!

In the pictures above you get an idea. You can see behind the stage that it's uplit with only 4 uplights. You can see the dramatic transformation with just 4. Imagine up to twenty! (For comparisons sake, check out the second picture, where the walls are. You can really see a difference) Also, notice the speakers on either side of the stage. Notice anything? How about something missing? Yup, wires! The second picture shows you where I was set up. This particular occurrence was a bridal fashion show. How nice it was to add a little bit of decor to the room while saving a headache trying to run hundreds of feet of wires. Hope you enjoy half as much as I do!

Hurry! Dates booking fast!

Well here we are in full wedding planning season. Had a fantastic bridal expo a few Sundays ago, and have another one this upcoming Sunday as well. What does that mean? Two things actually- One: You can come check me out at the Ultimate Wedding Expo at Salisbury University Sunday, Jan. 17 from noon till Four. Two: I am booking dates at record paces due to a more aggressive advertising campaign. As I say, it's just me for weddings, and I can only do one a day. So if you're interested in having me as your entertainment let's get started! Saturdays are flying off the books, but I do still have them available. Until next time, thanks for reading, and I hope to see ya Sunday.

Justin

Delmarva Bridal Show

Well, it's finally over! After months of planning and, quite frankly, driving my wife nuts--the Bridal show has come and gone with a four hour flurry of Brides looking to get their wedding started on the right foot. We very easily had 200 brides in the building! I felt our booth was very competitive as far as content and presentation go. It's tough to gauge legit interest with so many brides seemingly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of options for even the most simplest of things. Now comes the fun part: waiting to see the responses! I've already got emails out to those who were left their contact info so we shall see! Here's a few pictures to give ya a taste of what ya missed!

oops, failed again!

Well, I've failed again to keep you posted! Oh well what can I say? I'm a DJ because I love to help people make their events awesome, not because I love to push keyboards around! Anyway, I've been up to quite a bit. I've sold my gear, and bought new gear! Basically, I have gone from a Kia to a BMW. While I wont put you to sleep talking about specs and equipment--I will say that I'm able to make your event sound better than before? Was this necessary? Maybe not. Will it put me in a different level of DJ? I like to think so.

Besides selling and buying, you know I've rocked out some receptions, school events, and a bunch of other stuff. I'll post some pics so you can see the continued effort to provide not only the best sound I can offer, but to also enhance the beauty of an event with my set up. As you can problibly tell, I put a lot of stock in my presentation, and feel that is one of the major things that sets up apart from other DJ's. It's important to offer that little bit of extra...and even more impressive when I offer it for free. (the light up facade is the free part, not the lights!)

And lastly, we are getting close to my first wedding expo. This will be my chance to compete witht the big boys sort to speak and I can't wait. I'm feeling quite confident that I will be able to stake my claim among the elite DJ's in the Eastern Shore, Baltimore, and even up and down the east coast. January 3, 2010 is the date. Google: Delmarva bridal showcase and you should have no problems finding it. Along with me, you can find everything possible to make your wedding the wedding of your dreams. Enjoy the pics, and I'll be chatting you up shortly.